Arkansas Farm Bureau Visit to Seoul, Korea June 27-29, 2011

Led by Randy Veach, President Arkansas Farm Bureau (AFB), a six-member Arkansas Trade Mission visited Korea, June 27-29. The team included representatives from Arkansas’s cotton, grain, and livestock sectors. The team met with Korean Feed millers, meat importers, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) during its visit. Despite significant structural differences between Korean and Arkansas farms, AFB and NACF found many areas of common interests and recognized that farmers around the world face many of the same challenges. The two sides agreed to explore areas for collaboration in the future including possible travel to Arkansas. Among U.S. states, Arkansas ranks number 1 in rice production, number 2 in broilers, number 3 in cotton and is a significant producer of beef, corn and wheat.

US Frozen Potato Products Penetrate Korean Nightlife

US Potato Board and Wa Bar, a popular Korean beer pub chain, teamed up to conduct an ‘In House Cooking Contest’ using frozen U.S. potato products. Ten finalists were selected from more than 50 recipes submitted by Wa Bar chef teams and participated in an on-site contest on March 30, 2011. The goal of the contest was to develop practical usage of US frozen potatoes with good marketability for Wa Bar’s 265 kitchens.

A judging team consisting of Wa Bar R&D director, and local food experts, USPB Korea representative and US Embassy ATO director evaluated the dishes for taste, creativity, practicality and application of frozen potatos and marketability. The winning entries included:

Grand Prize - Potato Festival
Gold Prize – Oriental Express
Silver Prize – Potato Waffle Sandwich
Bronze Prize – Potato Tart
Bronze Prize 2nd – Potato Tiramisu

Winning dishes will be launched in Wa Bar pubs throughout Korea with US Potato Board promotional support.

U.S. Pavilion Draws Large Crowds at Seoul Food & Hotel 2011, April 26-29, 2011

American exporters enjoyed a successful show at Seoul Food & Hotel 2011. Almost 40 U.S. exhibitors occupied the U.S. pavilion organized by ATO Seoul. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens participated in the opening ribbon cutting ceremony and later toured the U.S. pavilion to meet with exhibitors.

In addition to making more than 525 serious contacts, 4 companies reported on site sales exceeding $2 million and 15 U.S. suppliers project 12 months sales of more than $20 million as a result of the show.

U.S. exhibitors reported that the pending Free Trade Agreement with Korea is drawing strong interest in American food products. A St. Louis based processed meat company sees growing Korean consumer interest in Italian style salami and believes sales would be further stimulated by the elimination of duties on processed pork products under the FTA.

ZAS International, a California based trading company supplying U.S. agricultural products stated, “We cannot over emphasize the importance of the USA/Korean FTA for our business and U.S. agriculture as a whole. Korean interest in our products such as corn on the cob and canned fruits is tremendous, but we are bound by duties of 30% and as high as 50% on some items. When the FTA takes effect these duties will be phased out over 5 and 10 years, respectively. With the Korea-EU FTA taking effect soon, our company and all American suppliers will be put at a severe disadvantage in the market.”

For more information on the U.S. Korea FTA please click here.

For more information on the Seoul Food & Hotel 2011 please click here.